Knitting machine



May 7,1935- Y w. D. GORMAN- Er AL 2,000,837

\ KNITTING MACHINE i1ed.oct. 2, 1934 Patented May 7, 1935 `UNITED STATESKNITTING MACmNE William D. Gorman,

Philadelphia, Pa., and

Charles Moses, New York, N. Y., assignors to H. Brinton Company,

Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application October 2,

18 Claims.

. Our said invention relates to knitting machines and particularly toknitting machines having independent needles of the type wherein needlesare individually selected' by means of a design wheel as for makingpatterns. It isv an object of the invention to provide improvedmechanism whereby the needles may be separated into sets positioned atdiierent elevations, such as welt level, tuck level and knitting levelor any combination of such levels.

A further object of the invention is to provide a design wheel ofimproved construction.

Referring to the drawing, which is made va part of this application andin which similar reference characters indicate similar parts:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of a part of a knitting machine provided with ourimproved devices;

Fig. 2, a section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1,

lig. 3, a partial section of the design wheel, an

Fig. 4, a plan with parts broken away.

In the drawing, .reference character I0 indicates a needle cylinder ofconventional character, in the slots of which there are located needlesII having outwardly projecting butts adapted to be engaged by cams suchas stitch cams I2, lling cam I3 and needle raising cam I4. Conventionalsinkers are indicated at I5, the sinkers being located in a bed I 6secured to the needle cylinder and being actuated by cams on the sinkerring I1.

Commonly, but not necessarily, the cams of a feed are held on a blockconstituting a section o1' the cam ring and here indicated at I 8, sucha section including in this case a stitch cam I2, a raising cam I4 andlling and other cams as convenience or necessity may indicate. Thesection in this case also includes a design wheel indicated generally atI 9 in Fig. 2, said wheel being mounted for rotation on a post 20secured to a bracket 2|, said bracket having .a oot 22 extending intothe block I8.

The design wheel comprises a pair of plates.

23 and 24, the lower plate having a central boss 25 for centering theupper plate, said boss also centering a holding plate 2B. The vplates 23and 24 are each provided about their periphery with parallel teeth 21 ofthe usual type with slots between them and such slots ,extendingobliquely from edge to edge of the plate. At a short distance inwardfrom the edge of the platean annular recess is providedat 28 and l20 inthe respective plates and the intermediate plate 24 is also reduced inthickness at its under side',

from a depending shoulder 30 to the central opening of theY plate, while'the holding plate 26 is similarly reducedin thickness inwardly from ashoulder 3|. Inserts 32 4are adapted to be positioned with their' outerends in the peripheral slots tor the purpose of engaging needle butts to1934, Serial No. 746,566

raise the needles selectively, the distance to which the needles are.raised depending upon whether a needle butt is engaged by an insert ofthe lower set or of the upper set, in the eine bodiment of the inventionhere illustrated.

The inserts are enlarged at their inner ends as shown at 33, so as to besecurely held in place' between the plates, which are reduced inthickness at appropriate points as hereinbefore de-A scribed. The plates23 and 24 are fastened together by means of Ascrews 34 and the holdingplate 25 is secured to plate 24 by screws 35.

In order that the plate 24 maybe correctly positioned circumferentiallywith reference to the base plate, so as to insure the desired patternrelation between the two plates and so as to nx the slots of the twoplates in alignment and in position for proper engagement with theneedle butts the lower plate is provided with a pin 36 adapted to entera hole 3l in the upper plate when the plates are superposed. A nut 38holds the wheel on the post, the usual spacer 39 and other conventionalparts serving to insure free rotation of the wheel.

Preferably a lling cam I3 is so positioned that the needles approach thedesign wheel at welt level and preferably also the cam I4 has an activeface so located as to cause the needle butts to travel obliquely in a,path' approximately parallel to and nearly identical with the plane ofthe adjacent part of the upper face of the wheel, so that the needlebutts pass smoothly oi the cam and are raised by an insert of the lowerseries if the needle is to be elevated to tuck level as indicatedat 40or by an insert of the upper series if the needle is to be elevated toknitting level as indicated at 4I. For the usual purposes of ourinvention the l,wheel Will/also have open slots not provided withinserts which Iopen slots allow the needles to remain at an idle levelas indicated at 42. This idle level, in the illustrated embodiment ofthe invention is higher than the welt level as indicated by lthe needle'at 43. It is desirable to re it will also be obvious that in this or inotherA ways vthe wheel of our invention maybe used for separating theneedles into two sets insteadA of three sets as here shown, the specificdivision de'` pending on the particular results desired to be ob',-tained.

those skilled in the art andvtherefore we do not limit ourselves to whatis shown in the drawing Many other changes in our improved mecha'- anddescribed in the specication, but only as indicated in the appendedclaims.

It will be obvious also that o ur mechanism may be utilized forseparating other devices such as jacks, or for separating needles byacting on their jacks and therefore such terms as needle butts are to beunderstood as being used for clearness in the claims and not forlimitation except as required by the state of the art.

Having thus fully described our said invention, what we claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a knitting machine, a stitch cam, an inclined design wheel forelevating needles selectively into position to be depressed by saidstitch cam, means on said wheel for raising needles selectively toeither of two elevations, and needle depressing means between said wheeland said cam.

2. In a knitting machine, an inclined design wheel having slots for idleneedles and also having means for raising other needles selectivelyeither to tuck level or to knitting level, and means to depress the idleneedles after they pass the design wheel.

3. In a knitting machine, an inclined design wheel having slots for idleneedles and also having means for raising other needles selectivelyeither to tuck level or to knitting level, means to depress the idleneedles after they pass the design wheel, and means for causing theneedles t approach the wheel at welt level.

4. In a knitting machine, an inclined design wheel having slots for idleneedles and also having means for raising other needles selectivelyeither to tuck level or to knitting level, means to depress the idleneedles afterthey pass the design wheel, means for causing the needlesto approach the wheel at welt level, and means adja- `cent said wheelfor causing the butts of the needles to travel in a line approximatelyparallel to the plane of the wheel.

5. In a knitting machine, an inclined design wheel having slots for idleneedles and also having means for raising other needlesselectivelyeither to tuck level or to knitting level, a stitch cam and meansbetween said wheel and the stitch cam for depressing the idle needles.

6. In a knitting machine, the combination of a section including astitch cam, a design wheel having teeth for driving the wheel with slotsbetween them for idle needles, needle-raising inserts for said wheel,and means on said wheel adapted to hold said inserts at different levelsthereon between pairs of such teeth for raising selected needles todiierent heights.

7. In a knitting machine, the combination of a section including astitch cam, a needle raising cam, a design wheel positioned to elevateselectively the butts of needles raised by said raising cam, said designwheel including open slots for idle needles and also including means toraise other needles selectively -either to tuck level or to cam, adesign wheel positioned to elevate selectively the butts of needlesraised by said raising cam, said design wheel including open slots foridle needles and also including means to raise other needles selectivelyeither to tuck level or to knitting level, a cam to depress the idleneedles to welt level, and a cam for causing the needles to approach thedesign Wheel at welt level.

9. In a knitting machine, the combination of a section including astitch cam, a needle raising cam, a design wheel having slots for idleneedles and also having means to engage the butts of needles actuated bysaid raising cam and to elevate them selectively either to tuck level orto knitting level, and needle depressing means between said stitch camand said wheel.

10. A design wheel of the type adapted to elevate needles selectively,said wheel having oblique peripheral slots, and means fixed in saidslots for elevating needles selectively to different levels.

11. A design wheel of the type for elevating needles selectively byengagement with their butts, said wheel having open slots for idleneedles and also having means in xed position thereon for elevatingother needles selectively to two diierent levels.

12. A design wheel comprising a pair of separable closely adjacentplates each having parallel oblique slots on its periphery, means forfastening said plates together, means for insuring alinement of theslots of the respective plates when assembled, and means extendingoutward from the periphery of each plate for selectively elevating todifferent heights the needles of a series.

13.v A design wheel having oblique parallel teeth about its peripheryfor engagement with needle butts to drive the wheel and interchangeablemeans in said slots at different levels axially of the wheel forengaging needle butts to lift the corresponding needles to differentheights.

14. A design wheel comprising a pair of separable closely adjacentplates each having parallel oblique slots on its periphery, means forfastening said plates together, means for insuring alinement of theslots of the respective plates when assembled, and inserts in said slotsadapted to receive needle butts at one level and elevate them to twodifferent levels. 15. A design wheel of the type for moving needlesselectively lengthwise, said wheel having fixed means for directlymoving needles or jacks selectively lengthwise from one position toeither of two other positions.

16. A design wheel of the type for moving needles selectivelylengthwise, said wheel having xed means for vmoving needles selectivelylengthwise from one position to either of two other positions, saiddesign wheel also having means whereby selected needles may pass itwithout being moved.

17. For use in a knitting machine having a series of reciprocableelements with butts thereon, a design wheel adapted to be mounted inoblique position adjacent said series, and means in xed position onsaid. wheel for engaging said butts directly to -move said elements todiierent levels.

18. A design wheel having parallel teeth arranged in a circumferentialseries about its periphery and providing slots between them, said wheelcomprising a plurality of separable plates, removable inserts for saidwheel in said slots, means on at least two of said plates forpositioning inserts circumferentially thereof, and means for fasteningsaid plates together so that said inserts are fixed in position in setsat different levels axially of the wheel, the height of said inserts 7(being such as not to

